Eagles played hardball with BDawk

MSNBC's Chris Matthews would be proud of Birds president Joe Banner.

Banner played hardball with his team's most popular player, according to the Trenton Times' Mark Eckel.

“Not only didn’t the team move from its $3 million offer,” Eckel wrote, ”but it wanted Dawkins to include a clause in the contract that he would have to pay money back to the team for any game he missed. That is almost unprecedented, especially for a player of Dawkins’ stature.”

Eckel is mistaken. Per the NFLPA, no NFL contract can require any player to pay money back but an increasing number of contracts, especially for older players, now include “per-game roster bonuses,” which tie compensation to the number of games played. That's what Banner tried to pull on Dawkins.